AP FACT CHECK: Trump hears applause where there were boos

By BEATRICE DUPUYJune 22, 2018

President Donald Trump is claiming House GOP members applauded and laughed at cutting remarks he made about South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford during a closed-door meeting Tuesday. Attendees say the opposite occurred.

A look at his statement:

TRUMP: “Had a great meeting with the House GOP last night at the Capitol. They applauded and laughed loudly when I mentioned my experience with Mark Sanford. I have never been a fan of his!” — tweet Wednesday.

THE FACTS: There actually were boos, according to several GOP representatives attending the meeting.

After Trump sarcastically congratulated Sanford on a “great race,” there was no applause or laughing at the remarks intended to mock the former South Carolina governor.

Sanford lost his GOP primary last week to Rep. Katie Arrington after the president announced his support for Arrington on Twitter and told voters Sanford, who has openly criticized the president, was “very unhelpful” to him on his campaign trail.

Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., attended Tuesday’s meeting and said he was caught off guard by the president’s attack on Sanford. Jones said he joined with others after they began to hiss and boo.

“I think the president showed a lack of class by even bringing the subject up,” Jones said.

Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Pa., called the president’s tweet “categorically false” on Twitter while Rep. Justin Amash tweeted that nobody applauded or laughed at the president’s “dazzling display of pettiness and insecurity.”